>Project 's Chico: the Story of a Homing Pigeon, by Lucy M. Blanchard
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Title: Chico: the Story of a Homing Pigeon
Author: Lucy M. Blanchard
Posting Date: November 5, 2011 [EBook #9605] Release Date: January, 2006 First Posted: October 9, 2003
Language: English
*** CHICO: STORY OF A HOMING PIGEON ***
Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Josephine Paolucci, and Project Distributed Proofreaders
CHICO
THE STORY OF A HOMING PIGEON By LUCY M. BLANCHARD
The Riverside Literature Series
1922
DEDICATED TO ALL WHO LOVE VENICE FOREWORD
As is well known, the time for haphazard reading in the schools has passed. The carefully selected lists compiled by those who make the education of children their life work are adapted to the needs of every grade.
It is not enough that a book possess story interest and that it be worth while from a literary point of view. The great consideration is its influence upon the mental and moral development of the child. It must be stimulating and present to the pupil such ideals as will have a permanent influence upon the formation of character.
In CHICO, THE STORY OF A HOMING PIGEON, I believe present-day requirements have been met, and that the book will prove of real value as a supplementary reader in the primary grades.
It has been my aim to depict accurately the Italian atmosphere and to give information in such a way that children unconsciously will learn much of the country form a true idea of the scenes described.
Explanations of Italian words and phrases have been given when needed.
I believe that the book will be found particularly valuable from the standpoint of visual education, and well adapted also for silent reading and topical recitations.
The story was written out of a full heart, with the hope that it might foster the love and appreciation of birds, and that the boy's
sacrifice of his precious homing pigeon to his country at a time of peril might carry an ethical appeal to every young reader.
THE AUTHOR CONTENTS
I. OLD PAOLO
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II. ANDREA'S WISH
III. MARIA'S BIRTHDAY IV. CHICO
V. THE MEANEST CAT IN VENICE VI. TRAINING
VII. DANGER AHEAD!
VIII. A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE
IX. "COO-OO, COO-OO-OO. RUK-AT-A-COO" X. A GALA DAY
XI. A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WORLD XII. THE BLUE ROSETTE
XIII. AND ALL FOR ITALY!
XIV. EVVIVA VENEZIA! EVVIVA ITALIA! XV. THE HERO OF THE SQUARE [Illustration: CHICO]
CHAPTER I OLD PAOLO
Some years before the Great War, there lived in a little house on one of the side canals of Venice, an honest workman and his family. Giovanni Minetti, for such was his name, was employed in a certain glass factory in Murano, while, in all Venice, there was no one with fingers more deft in the making of beautiful lace than Luisa, his wife.
At the time of our story, Andrea, the elder child, was nearly eight, and his little sister, Maria, two years younger.
Consigning the children to the care of her uncle (old Paolo, the caretaker of St. Mark's), Luisa would go each morning to the lace factory, returning just in time to prepare the simple dinner, at eventide.
Those were wonderful days for the children, for though they missed their father and mother, they were always happy with old Paolo. "Buon giorno" [Footnote: Good-morning.] they would shout every morning when he stopped for them on his way to the famous
church, and Maria, holding tight to one of the old man's hands, would trot along by his side, while Andrea, more independent, would
run on ahead in his eagerness to thread the narrow streets catch the first glimpse of the Piazza, as St. Mark's Square is called.
Then, while the old man cleaned and dusted, the children wandered about the dusky interior, touching the gold mosaic figures with awed fingers, or gazing reverently at the great altar front of silver gilt.
After a little, hand in hand, they would scamper out into the bright sunshine where they never tired of the many wonderful objects that make St. Mark's Square a fairyland for young and old alike.
"'Roglo!" little Maria would cry, as she pointed upward to the great clock with its dial of blue and gold. It was the nearest she could come to pronouncing "orologio," the Italian word for clock. Then she would listen as hard as ever she could, hoping the bronze figures would strike the hour on the bell.
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But Andrea loved best the horses that stood above the entrance of the church. In his little soul he almost worshiped the fiery steeds
and loved to fancy himself seated on their backs. He even went so far as to plan to scale the wall in order to satisfy his ambition.
"Sometime, I will do it," he used to say, as he struck a determined attitude, and Maria would look at him with adoring eyes. How venturesome he was! He was taller than she by half a head, and his added two years gave him a place in dignity far above her.
It was no wonder the boy should be so crazy over the great bronze steeds when one remembers that Venice is practically horseless and that they were almost the only ones he had ever seen.
Perchance, even, as they talked, they would hear the flutter of wings, and some half-dozen pigeons, with soft coos, would light on their shoulders. Then Maria would laugh aloud with delight, and Andrea would forget his wild dreams as they stroked the glossy wings and admired the bright eyes, all the while feeding them dried peas or grain with which their mother never forgot to see their pockets were supplied.
If, by chance, they flung a handful on the ground, in a second there would be a whole flock of pigeons, lighting on the pavement.
Then Maria would clap her hands, and Andrea would have all he could do to see that no bird, greedier than the rest, got more than its share.
The children would be so absorbed that they would become quite unconscious of the tourists that would gather to watch the pretty group, for Venice was full of tourists in those days--people who came, even from far-off America, to see the wonderful St. Mark's Square, and hardhearted, indeed, was the man or woman who could turn away without buying at least one bag of grain from insistent vendors and join the children in feeding the pigeons.
But I have not yet begun to tell the wonders of St. Mark's Square. This was in June, 1910; the Campanile
